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Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The 2025 SheBelieves Cup is in the books, and United States women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes got a thorough look at what the future of her team might look like, even if it cost the Americans a run at a sixth straight title.
Getting more experience for players and obtaining long-term answers was always the primary goal for Hayes. She aimed to use the three-game event against three unique styles of opponents to simulate a tournament for plenty of players who have never experienced one at the senior, international level.
Against Australia, Hayes rolled out the youngest lineup in nearly 25 years and changed the entire starting 11 from the opening match against Colombia, also for the first time in about 25 years.
With just over a month until the U.S. reconvenes for a doubleheader rematch of the 2024 Olympic gold medal game against Brazil, one question looms: Now what?
The SheBelieves Cup provided some clear answers regarding the readiness of individual players for this level, but other solutions are far less straightforward. Some individually strong performances only underscore another central – even if not new – question, one which Hayes must try to answer: How does she want this team to play going forward?
The U.S. played without all three of Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson (nee Smith) — the “Triple Espresso” that terrorized defenses en route to Olympic gold last year — for the third straight international window. Their absences have provided ample opportunities for players like Ally Sentnor and Alyssa Thompson to show that they can be valuable contributors soon.
Conversely, the absence of the “Triple Espresso” fundamentally changes the way the U.S. plays. They are three world-class forwards, all with unique skills. While it would be reductive to summarize them as primarily vertical forwards who get behind defenses, they certainly offer that threat in abundance when played as a trio – which was done to great success at the Olympics. They are all in their 20s and should be fixtures for the U.S. for a long time.
Without the dynamic trio, the U.S. women have played with forwards who play completely different styles.
Catarina Macario led the line for the U.S. in two out of the three SheBelieves Cup matches (Lynn Biyendolo started the other). Macario likes to play the No. 9 role as a false nine who drops deep to combine or spin defenders, frequently with her back to goal. She is precise in front of the goal, but she isn’t the forward who will frequently put her hand up to be played in behind defenses. The Chelsea attacker also prefers the No. 10 role.
The same can be said about Jaedyn Shaw, who was the best player on the field for the U.S. against Australia in her preferred No. 10 role. Shaw has been played by Hayes as a No. 9 (and a winger) and executed the role similarly to Macario.
If and when Rodman, Swanson and Wilson are back in camp, Hayes has decisions to make.
Having too much talent to fit on the field at once is a champagne problem, to be clear — the very type of dilemma Hayes is being paid a women’s soccer record to figure out.
The answers she chooses, however, will go a long way in shaping the team ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
Hayes has long said that she does not want to remove the American “DNA” that makes this team great, and being clinical in transition is part of that. It is also true that there is never only one correct answer to any problem; the U.S. might rely on a “Triple Espresso” lineup against one opponent but present an entirely different look against another.
Flexibility, adaptability and depth are all characteristics that Hayes wishes to develop — and they are all crucial to success at a World Cup.
This central issue also extends beyond the forward line. Even if we assume that Macario or Shaw would slide into the midfield, it has a knock-on effect. Where does that leave current captain Lindsey Heaps (nee Horan)?
Among the players who improved their stock the most at the SheBelieves Cup was 17-year-old midfielder Lily Yohannes (along with Sentnor), whose ability to see the next pass before she receives the ball was on full display among a U.S. team that was otherwise relatively unfamiliar with each other.
Yohannes’ skillset could be beneficial to play precise balls to any of the talented but recently absent forwards, but there could equally be a world – as was seen in flashes at the SheBelieves Cup – where Yohannes could combine with fellow creatives Shaw, Macario or (the injured but not to be forgotten) Rose Lavelle.
One other glaring absence from the SheBelieves Cup roster also factors heavily into how the U.S. will play. After her record-breaking, $1.1 million transfer to Chelsea in January, centerback Naomi Girma’s qualities as a world-class defender are well established.
Where the Americans appeared to miss Girma most in their first three games of the year, however, was not in 1-v-1 defending but in possession out of the back. Girma can play incisive, line-breaking balls to midfielders or forwards to advance the U.S. attack.
The U.S. was particularly poor in keeping possession out of the back against a well-organized Japan team on Wednesday. Newcomer centerback Tara McKeown turned the ball over a half-dozen times in the first half, including for a throw-in that led to Japan’s second-minute goal.
Rodman, Swanson and Wilson provide obvious relief as outlets to pressure in ways that other options up top might not.
Hayes has said explicitly that she wants to see more creativity in the side. Will that mean creative, more aggressive solutions to integrate Macario, a player she brought to Chelsea when she coached there, and Shaw, a player who Hayes said last week “will impact our program in a profound way” regardless of what position she plays?
A pair of games in April against Brazil could offer more answers if everyone is available for selection. As Hayes will be quick to remind everyone, her options might not be as simple as ‘either, or.’
